Crew rest compartments (CRCs) form part of the mandatory equipment of aircraft on long-duration flights. According to international standards, any flight of a duration of between 8 h and 14 h requires one lying-down facility, while flights exceeding 14 h require two lying-down facilities. This is also derived from the requirement wherein from a certain flight duration onwards a total of two alternating cockpit crews must be present on board.
In recent years the security requirements in aircraft have become significantly more stringent, which also requires separation, from the point of view of security, of the cockpit region from the passenger region. As far as design and construction are concerned it may thus be desirable for pilots to have direct spatial access to the flight crew rest compartment (FCRC) from the cockpit, without there being a need for them to enter the passenger region.
Known FCRCs are implemented with two lying-down facilities, arranged side-by-side, in the ceiling area or crown area of the aircraft. Most of the time the cockpit crew has to walk a certain distance to get to the FCRC. From the confined rest region in the interior of the compartment there follows a projecting region in the passenger cabin, e.g. the first-class region, which at least in part may not be of full height.
Likewise, as far as the cabin comfort of crew members is concerned, known solutions are often not designed optimally because there is no spatial separation between the cabins.
Known solutions of FCRCs comprise two lying-down facilities. However, in approximately 70%-80% of cases the second bed is not used because the crew is only augmented by one further pilot. The second bed thus takes up storage space and volume that is urgently needed in the aircraft. Furthermore, the weight component of the unoccupied module is a disadvantage that is to be urgently avoided especially in the context of the construction of large-capacity aircraft.
In contrast to the solutions relating to the flight crew (pilots) the compartments for the cabin crew (service personnel) are, for example, arranged in the rear end of the aircraft. As a rule, this arrangement necessitates the use of at least two stairs, ladders or staircases and ascent devices. In known solutions, in which beds are provided for both parts of the crew, there is only a single crew rest compartment but not a combination of two independent crew rest compartments.
Known solutions are arranged unfavourably from a spatial point of view (e.g. at the end of the main cabin); they provide only little comfort (e.g. low head height), or they meet other requirements only inadequately, for example the desire for spatial separation of the two beds for the flight crew. Furthermore, their visual influence on the cabins is often negative. However, there is a decisive disadvantage in that as a result of the use of two separate CRCs, in this separate arrangement valuable space is lost because each compartment requires a staircase. The resulting additional weight component of the aircraft is of considerable significance especially in these times where there is a requirement for reducing kerosene consumption and thus exhaust emissions.